Electronic communications and interactions such as on networks like the Internet have greatly expanded the potential for interactions among people, organizations and businesses. However, although such communications offer substantial advantages in terms of the speed and ease of communications, these advantages are often offset by the disembodied nature of the communications. In particular, electronic network communications between parties wherein at least one of the parties is believed to be potentially untrustworthy, or there is a question about one of the parties' authenticity can greatly affect the acceptance of electronic communications as a substitute for face-to-face communication. Accordingly, when communicating particularly sensitive information between two parties, it would be preferable that each party be able to verify that the sensitive information is treated as intended. For example, when games are played on the Internet wherein such games offer prizes and/or returns on bets, and where the games are largely dependent upon a predetermined order or arrangement of tokens (e.g., card representations) or game scenarios, network game players may find it difficult to fully trust the game sponsor/provider to not distort the chances of game players to receive all prizes and/or be fairly compensated for wagers made. Alternatively, such game sponsors/providers are unwilling to provide to game players the game outcomes prior to the completion of such a game in that the game players could potentially use such outcomes prior to the completion of the game for their own benefit. Thus, it would be desirable to have a communications network capability that guarantees that both network game players, and sponsors/providers of games (such as contests, sweepstakes, and casino games), each to be able to verify that the other party is playing the game fairly.
Alternatively, when providing an auction for electronic sealed bids, similar concerns regarding trustworthiness of auction parties may undesirably affect the bidding process. For instance, when a plurality of companies are competing with one another for a contract, there may be a concern that a sealed bid from one company might be inappropriately communicated to another of the bidding companies. Thus, it would be desirable for such companies to be assured that their sealed bids could not be misappropriated by competing companies.